Let’s compare what China’s leadership has actually done to what America’s elite dreams it can get away with. Alasdair Macleod of Gold Money said China has cornered the gold market. Macleod said the total Money Supply of the 50 largest nations is $67 trillion. Outside the public banking system is the Shadow Banking System which academics recently estimated to be $100 trillion. The Shadow Banking System includes Hedge Funds, Special Investment Vehicles, Money Market funds and others.  That is $167 trillion in paper promises used to construct a House of Cards.

Elvis Costello’s “Goon Squad” opens the podcast and lead story on the US-approved coup in Ukraine, Robert Parry provides analysis….Click here for free audiobook download from Audible that generates $15 for the PBC Podcast!
Read Parry’s commentary here, showing that NeoCons remain powerful in the Obama administration, and that the “protesters” in Ukraine include neo-Nazis and neo-fascists
–Voice of Russia details Anonymous Ukraine split

1336 – 4,000 defenders of Pilėnai commit a mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights.
1570 – Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England.
1797 – Colonel William Tate and his force of 1000-1500 soldiers surrender after the Last Invasion of Britain.
1836 – Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for the Colt revolver.
1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American ever to sit in the U.S. Congress.

Washington is thus attempting to show the world it is still the master. To be more sure of itself, it launched the Ukrainian and Venezuelan operations during the Olympic Games in Sochi. It was certain that Russia would not move for fear of having its party upset by Islamist attacks. But Sochi ended this weekend. Now it’s Moscow’s turn to play.The post Can Washington overthrow three governments at the same time? appeared first on BSNEWS.

Brandishing the official excuse that near-nonagenarian King Abdullah was not able to receive him, Charles of Arabia declined to discuss with the House of Saud the absolutely appalling women's rights, migrant workers' rights and for that matter the full human rights situation in the kingdom. Of course not; this is only brought up when demonizing Russia, China and/or Iran. The post Warning: Saudi mayhem ahead appeared first on BSNEWS.

Mann’s inclusion of the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee (“Commons Committee”) among the investigations that supposedly “investigated” and “exonerated” Mann personally is as invalid as his similar claims regarding the Oxburgh and Muir Russell inquiries or his claim to have won a Nobel prize.

Not Debbie Dingell-- this is the good potential replacementIt's wonderful when people feel it's time to retire and then just do it. Congratulations to John Dingell, who made the announcement this morning.

It’s true that the devil is in the details. It is especially true, though, with legislative budgets. I wrote earlier about the Pentagon’s suggestions for $45 billion in cuts to its own budget and how much of it targets the bloated benefits plans for members of the military.
Yay for cutting the defense budget. But the details are not so encouraging (as one would expect).

SLHS Podcast #154 | Guillermo Jimenez of Traces of Reality makes a return appearance to Smells Like Human Spirit to discuss the importance of critical thinking, his contention that the War on Drugs has been an utter and complete fraud, and to share his take on ‘Breaking Bad.’

Post # 2 for the day.Please be sure to read the first post from earlier today you will not be disappointed. Regime change success in Kiev. Is the battle for Crimea about to begin?For this 2nd post, I want to take you back to some news reported on here  February 5/2014US & EU wade deeper into Ukraine 'stand-off ' with an aid package From that post

After initially agreeing in principle to a Status of Forces Agreement that would govern the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014, President Hamid Karzai has refused to sign the deal. The White House had been scrambling to get an agreement signed by this month, but now U.S. officials have reportedly ceased all direct talks with Karzai on the issue.

By Lenni Brenner | CounterPunch | February 24, 2014

http://youtu.be/4EpbTLHnojAEric Draitser of StopImperialism.org appears on Press TV to discuss US policy in Syria and whether it has shifted.  Draitser expplains that the US has sought regime change from the very beginning and, though they methods might vary month to month, the ultimate goal of the policy remains unchanged.  He points out that US foreign policy is predicated on “crisis management”, the ability to create a crisis and then manage it to the desired outcome.

By Margaret Boehme | Red Hot Burning Peace | February 24, 2014

Yet we are only allowed to mention the Koch Bros?

Al-Akhbar | February 24, 2014

Iran has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth $195 million, according to documents seen by Reuters – a move that would break a UN embargo on weapons sales by Tehran.
The agreement was reached at the end of November, the documents showed, just weeks after Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki returned from Washington, where he lobbied the Obama administration for extra weapons to fight al Qaeda-linked militants.

20 years ago, scientific superstar Carl Sagan urged us to use our brains - to be actively skeptical.

Prosecution rests in trial for D.C. man charged for one shotgun shell
 
Washington Times Editorial

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts of PaulCraigRoberts.org joins us to discuss his take on recent events in Ukraine. We examine the historical roots of the crisis and look at the risks of further escalation in the current situation. We also take on the reluctance of those inside the beltway to point out the self-evident truths about the increasingly reckless actions of the American Empire.
SHOW NOTES:
Democracy Murdered By Protest -Ukraine Falls To Intrigue and violence

The Inland Empire's crooked political eliteFriday we mentioned that the endorsement-- and a real endorsement, not a perfunctory one-- of progressive Eloise Reyes by Rep.

British tabloid host acknowledges turning off Americans over guns

WT

By Tim Cushing | Techdirt | February 24, 2014

The Pentagon is planning cuts to the defense budget that are causing controversy on Capitol Hill, the New York Times reports.

 
Part I – Norman Finkelstein’s Predictions

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel meets with Egyptian general Abdel Fatah Saeed Al Sisy
Almost every brutal regime in the world, no matter how depraved, needs at least a veneer of popular legitimacy. Egypt’s ruling military junta, which ousted a democratically elected government back in July and has imposed harsh crackdowns ever since, is angling for just such “legitimacy” by “resigning” ahead of national elections.
The Los Angeles Times:

RT | February 24, 2014

In the wake of President Obama’s promise to stop spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the US intelligence has switched its attention to her top government officials, a German newspaper reported.
Washington’s relations with Germany were strained last year after revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) was conducting mass surveillance in Germany and even tapped the mobile phone of Chancellor Merkel.

Meant to get this up yesterday, but, better late then not at allIn this post is a video, taken in the Crimea. It looks to me as if a provocative act aimed at the populace was taking place.  The locals would have none of it. The local population are fully aware the Kiev "protestors" are FASCISTS. Which they are. Fascists backed by the EU, US and NATO.

Entitled The Campaign Casino-- Elections Have Become a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme, and the Press Is Missing the Story, Lee Aitken has penned a jaw-dropping report, just released by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Their point is that the media is missing-- perhaps purposely missing ("the U.S.

By Lawrence Davidson | To the Point Analyses | February 24, 2014

Part I – Norman Finkelstein’s Predictions

Itar-Tass
February 24, 2014
Russia’s FM source: Susan Rice had better advise US, not Russia
MOSCOW: Russia has declared that the US president’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, would better counsel the White House, not Russia, a Russian Foreign Ministry source told Itar-Tass on Monday in a comment on Rice’s statement that Russia’s intervention in Ukraine “would be a grave mistake”.

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Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts
John Galsworthy: Selections on war
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John Galsworthy
From The Burning Spear (1919)

Al-Akhbar | February 24, 2014

The Israeli military deployed a new division to the border with Syria in a move described as “a significant boost to border security and stability,” the Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday.

The American media is a useless news source. It serves as a Ministry for Government Lies. The corrupt propagandists are portraying the undemocratic removal of Yanukovich as a victory for freedom and democracy. When it begins to leak out that everything has gone wrong, the presstitutes will blame it all on Russia and Putin.

Ukraine has issued a warrant for the arrest of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, the country’s interim interior minister has announced.
Arsen Avakov said in a Facebook post that prosecutors had opened a criminal case against Yanukovych and other officials over “mass murder of peaceful citizens”.
Full Article

484 – King Huneric removes the Christian bishops from their offices and banished some to Corsica. A few are martyred, including former proconsul Victorian along with Frumentius and other merchants. They are killed at Hadrumetum after refusing to become Arians.
1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
1803 – In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review.

Last week Ukraine saw its worst violence since the breakup of the Soviet Union over 20 years ago. Protesters occupying the main square in the capitol city, Kiev, clashed with police leaving many protesters and police dead and many more wounded. It is an ongoing tragedy and it looks like there is no end in […]

Ukraine is exploding, and the force of the eruption may plunge not only the country but also Europe and the US into an abyss out of which there is no easy extrication. First, a primer for those who have missed the rapidly escalating events of the past few days: mobs of protesters have taken over […]

Last year, government contracting behemoth Boeing paid an effective tax rate of -1.4%. Yes, you read that correctly – negative 1.4%. According to a new report from the Center for Effective Government, one of America’s biggest corporations, with profits ranging from $1.6 to $5.9 billion over the last five years, found ways to whittle down […]

Wes Bertrand and I continue our series based on Nathaniel Branden's book, Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. Today's show includes a discussion based on the second pillar, the Practice of Self-Responsibility.

Reacting vs. Responding
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -Viktor E. Frankl

Wes Bertrand and I continue our series based on Nathaniel Branden's book, Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. Today's show includes a discussion based on the second pillar, the Practice of Self-Responsibility.

Reacting vs. Responding
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -Viktor E. Frankl

Wes Bertrand and I continue our series based on Nathaniel Branden's book, Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. Today's show includes a discussion based on the second pillar, the Practice of Self-Responsibility.Reacting vs. Responding“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -Viktor E.

This afternoon we took a look at the dystopian vision encompassed in the growing American Deep State. I know it was long-- apologies-- but, well… it's important and I cut it in half several times before publishing it.

At least 96 people were killed across Iraq today, while another 95 were wounded. The military broke its self-imposed truce in Falluja.

New Yorker caption: Roger Angell and Andy; Central Park, January, 2014. Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe."I'm ninety-three, and I'm feeling great. Well, pretty great, unless I've forgotten to take a couple of Tylenols in the past four or five hours, in which case I've begun to feel some jagged little pains shooting down my left forearm and into the base of the thumb. . .

Natalia Vitrenko February 23, 2014 Statement of Natalia Vitrenko of The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine Translation of: http://www.vitrenko.org/start.php?lang=1&article_id=19019 Events in Ukraine are exciting the whole world. We need to understand the essence of what is happening. The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, as a party of the Left Opposition, which fought and is [...]

From NullifyNSA:
ARIZONA ACTION ALERT.
SB1156 NEEDS YOUR HELP – make calls Sunday night and Monday AM in support.
We just received notice that SB1156, the Arizona 4th Amendment Protection Act will have a rules committee hearing and vote on MONDAY at 1pm.
Your calls are needed now – overnight and into the morning – so committee members know to vote YES on SB1156 in committee on Monday.

Voice of Russia
February 23, 2014
Soviet Republics and Russian allies US/NATO color revolution targets – Rick Rozoff
John Robles
Recorded on Februay 18, 2014
Audio: Download audio file
Part I

Russian Information Agency Novosti
February 23, 2014
Obama Official Warns Russia on Military Action in Ukraine
WASHINGTON: A senior US official on Sunday warned Moscow not to send troops into Ukraine amid the political crisis gripping Russia’s ex-Soviet neighbor, saying such a move would constitute a “grave mistake.”

Mike Lofgren had been a GOP operative and congressional aide for nearly 3 decades when he retired in 2011 and penned the book The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted the following year.